The present disclosure is directed to methods and systems for 3D imaging of various workpieces including damaged workpieces, to allow digitization and reconstruction thereof. For example, safety acetate film was previously the prevailing media for photographic recording, and vast collections of acetate negatives are currently preserved in the world's memory institutions. However, even properly preserved acetate negatives deteriorate beyond a point of feasible reading or digitization by conventional techniques. The negatives decay due to a chemical reaction that releases acetic acid, leaving the base (acetate) and photographic (emulsion) layers unstable. As a part of this decomposition process, the layers shrink and wrinkle, leaving large channels through the negative.
Physical restoration is possible, but is a complex process requiring physically separating the negative layers and reseating the emulsion layer on a new base layer. While effective, the process is too time consuming, labor intensive, and costly when considering restoration of large collections.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for methods and systems for digitally or virtually restoring damaged negatives and other such workpieces with minimal human intervention. The present disclosure provides such methods and systems for digitizing workpieces such as photographic negatives and other objects which do not fit a typical scanning paradigm.